miercuri, 28 decembrie 2016

The fate of a reported nationwide truce for Syria was unclear Thursday,
following talks between Moscow and Ankara, despite Turkish state media
saying a deal had been reached. The state-run Anadolu news agency said
late Wednesday the agreed plan aims to expand a ceasefire in the city of
Aleppo to the whole country, but neither Ankara nor Moscow confirmed
the report. The Aleppo truce was brokered by Turkey and Russia earlier
this month to allow the evacuation of civilians and was hailed as a
major turning point in the nearly six-year war. Read More

John Kerry’s record of ugly betrayals – from Hanoi to Jerusalem

It
looks like Secretary of State John Kerry is determined to go out the
way he came in — wrapping himself in the flag while betraying the causes
of both America and its allies. He came in by doing that to Vietnam and
is going out by turning on Israel. Kerry’s tirade against Jewish
settlements in liberated Judea and Samaria was breathtaking in its
mendacity. Before a captive audience at the State Department, the
lame-duck diplomat went on for more than an hour, blaming President
Obama’s failures (and his own) almost solely on the Jewish state. The
secretary tried to haul out of history’s dustbin what is known as UN
Resolution 181. That envisaged wresting Jerusalem away from the Jewish
state altogether

New York Post

Air strike disables Mosul's last bridge: residents

An
air strike has disabled the last bridge linking eastern and western
Mosul, a city Iraqi forces are fighting to retake from jihadists,
residents and a provincial official said. Iraqi forces have advanced
into eastern Mosul -- which is divided by the Tigris River -- and have
retaken some neighbourhoods on that side of the city, which has been
held by the Islamic State group for more than two and a half years.
"Aerial bombing... cut the bridge, and it is not possible to cross it,"
Mosul resident Abu Ali told AFP.

AFP

John Kerry Reiterates Importance of Two-State Peace Solution for Israel and Palestine

"If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic, it cannot be both"

Time Magazine Videos

Actress Tricia McCauley Found Strangled to Death

A suspect was arrested and charged with her murder on Tuesday.

Cosmopolitan

Inside the minds of jihadis

In
just a few short years, the Islamic State has accomplished a tremendous
amount, carving out territory for itself out of valuable Middle Eastern
real estate, building a quasi-state, wreaking a new level of havoc on
the region, and launching far-flung and devastating terrorist attacks.
It's that beyond the thousands and tens of thousands who have joined the
Islamic State in the Levant, there are millions, perhaps even tens of
millions, around the world who are inspired by ISIS's message. The
Islamic State no doubt has its share of psychotics, sadists, and thugs
who would be drawn at any opportunity to do mayhem. As with any enemy,
the best way to defeat the Islamic State is to understand it.

The Week

What Would a Saudi-Iran War Look Like? Don’t look now, but it is already here

When
asked to address the question of what a Saudi-Iran war would look like,
my first instinct is to ask the reader to look around because it is
already happening. As the futurist William Gibson noted, “the future is
already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.” Already, Saudi
Arabia and Iran are killing each other’s proxies, and indirectly are
killing each other’s advisors and troops, in Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, and
Saudi Arabia’s Shiite Eastern Province. The future is likely to look
similar. The existing pattern will intensify, eventually spill over in a
short, sharp direct clash, and then sink back down again to the level
of proxy wars in other people’s territories. The preferred method